Funny Animal

Rachel Dukes is a busy comic book illustrator who works for Boom! Studios on titles like Garfield. But in her “free time” she’s also busy being the best human friend of her own cat named Frankie. She’s spun off Frankie’s adventures around the house into her award-winning on-line comic strip, Frankie Comics. You can see the latest at her web site. There you’ll also find a link to her publishing company, MixTape Comics, where she sells not only paper collections of Frankie Comics but also posters, buttons, stickers, and other Frankie goodies.

The world of Virtual Reality entertainment keeps moving ahead. (By leaps and bounds, or by steps and stumbles? Depends on who you talk to.) Recently Cartoon Brew put up an article about Henry, “an Immersive Virtual Reality short”. “On the surface, Oculus Story Studio’s new 12-minute short film Henry is a sweet story about a lovable hedgehog who just want to make friends, but can’t stop spiking whatever he hugs. ” But actually, it’s one of the first animated films ever created for the environment of the Oculus Rift head-set. Once “inside”, viewers can either watch Henry’s story — as he attempts to hug flying balloon-puppies with disastrous results — or explore the levels and rooms of Henry’s tiny home. Or both. There’s a non-Oculus “making-of” video that explains it more.

Designer USB sticks have been a thing for a while now. So why bring up “Mimobots” here, now? Well maybe because their designs happen to include My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic, Ugly Doll, Hello Kitty, Adventure Time, and more! Mimoco also has a line of designer “Mimo Power Tubes”: Single-cell rechargeable back-up batteries for cell-phones, hand-held games, and so forth. New designs are coming out all the time, so keep your eyes on the Mimoco web site.

How could you not notice a web site with a name like bekyoot.com? And it’s newly redesigned to boot. “BeKyoot is inspired by life, laughter, and the pursuit of cuteness. There is a story behind every character – a life of whimsy and simplicity sure to set a smile on your face. Many of the characters are based off of real life animals and experiences. The first BeKyoot artbook and webcomic compilation are currently in production along with the first of many children’s books.” Right now though there’s a collection of t-shirts and other clothes, plushy critters, art prints, and other products available.

Remember The Punky Pets? Here’s a refresher: “Who are the Punky Pets? These eight vastly different musicians meet up for the first time while auditioning for the hit TV show International Icon, in New York City. Their dreams of stardom are crushed when each performer gets booed off the stage, laughed at, ignored and criticized for their lack of talent. At least now they all have something in common. They talk about giving up, they express self-doubt, and they call each other rejects. In their darkest hour they see the light. With the help of a talent scout, they decide to turn their tragedy into triumph and form their own punk rock band.” Got it? Well now in addition to the music videos and various tie-in products on the Punky Petsweb site, there’s a new Punky Pets app game for the i-Phone and Android formats. Join DJ Freak, lead singer monkey, as he races around New York trying to collect instruments in time for the band’s next gig!

Flurry the Bear is the plushie star of a series of illustrated fantasy books by J.S. Skye. Created by no less than Christopher Kringle himself , Flurry is a white teddy bear who has trouble fitting in. Given a special assignment by the master of the North Pole, Flurry heads off into the wider world. But never one to take the easy (or even safe) way out, he soon finds himself on a series of amazing adventures… over a series of novels and other media. Visit the official Flurry web site to find out more. The illustrations are profuse!

Janet Lee describes herself like this: “I am an artist, award-winning illustrator, and cat-tamer who may or may not have been raised by gypsies in the Black Forrest…” She is also, if her illustration is any proof, someone who is trying to bring a lot of “funny” back to “funny animals”. See her print below? That’s Ron Weasely. Get it? [And yes, she has a new print of Harry Otter too…] Take a look at her web site to see what else she’s been up to (when her cats will give her time). And don’t forget to look at her Etsy Shop too.

Mary Bellamy is an illustrator and comic-book creator known for her manga-style works like Faux Facts and Aw Heck! In the latter, a young girl finds herself mistakenly trapped in Hell — and she wrecks holy, um, heck as she fights her way back to world of the living. Facing horrible dangers along the way of course — among them, killer demon rabbits! Ms. Bellamy rather likes rabbits it seems, because they play an even bigger roll in her new comic series Zorilita Guardians. In fact she even sells plushie versions of the three fuzzy guardians who protect Zorilita and her friends. Take a look at Ms. Bellamy’s web site where you can find out more about all of this.

It’s time we checked in again with the artist Chet Phillips. Known for his fanciful anthro-primates (he even did a whole collector-card game based on evil monkeys!), now cats and even kaiju are turning up more and more in his works. (Kaiju are giant monsters stomping all over Japan, in case you forgot!) Recently he created a collectible card set based on kaiju baseball players, as well as the usual prints and other artistic stuff. Go visit his Etsy store to see what we’re talking about, and hopefully this will all make a lot more sense!